Read on to find out more about what’s going on with these adorable baby deer that seem too small to be left on their own.

Resting fawn (Photo by Maureen Smith/NWF)

Lone Fawns are Not Abandoned

There is a strong probability that you did not find an abandoned fawn. Female deer hide their newborn fawns in tall grass or brush and move some distance away to feed to avoid drawing predators to their offspring. With the proliferation of deer in suburban areas, sometimes this happens right in our own yards. The fawn simply waits in hiding until its mother returns. Soon, the fawns will be strong enough to follow the does and run from predators, and they no longer need to spend hours alone in hiding.

A “pet” deer approaches a hunter. Photo credit: Stephen Moyer

Though it seems that they are vulnerable, these young fawns are not totally helpless. Their spotted pelts look like dappled sunlight on the forest floor and offer great camouflage. They do not have strong scent that would attract predators. Fawns are also programmed to keep totally still and quiet when hiding while their mother forages. The combination of the physical attributes and the behavior of both does and fawns are remarkably successful at limiting depredation at such a vulnerable time.

“Rescuing” Fawns is Illegal

Wild animals don’t make good pets, and deserve to live wild and free. In fact, for some species there there are laws to protect wildlife from being taken from the wild by people. Well-meaning people who take fawns out of the wild and raise them violate these laws, often unwittingly and nearly always unnecessarily. Come spring, animal rescue centers are overloaded with “abandoned” fawns that never needed help from humans in the first place. You might mean well, but taking a fawn out of the wild is essentially “fawn-napping.”

And consider this: illegally raising deer fawns greatly reduces their chances of survival. It is difficult for an untrained person to provide a quality diet and captive care, and due to a hand-raised deer’s lack of fear of humans, these animals are more likely to be hit by cars, killed by dogs, or shot by hunters. The photo to the right shows what someone did to try and protect a “pet” wild deer from hunters: they put a collar on it. Unfortunately, this deer was totally unafraid of people, and walked right up to a hunter. Luckily for this particular animal, the hunter just snapped this picture and let it go on its way. The next time it approaches a human it will probably not be so lucky.

When to Intervene

There are cases where it is okay to help lone fawns. If you notice that a fawn is clearly injured or that it is near a dead adult doe, then it is acceptable to seek help. Start by calling your local animal control department or nature center, who can either take the animal or help locate a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who can. If a hidden fawn is discovered on your property, it’s up to you to keep your pet dogs and your children away from it.

It seems like common sense: Missouri’s white-tailed deer are wildlife, not livestock. However, late on Wednesday night, the Missouri legislature fought until 3:00 am to decide the fate of Missouri’s captive white-tailed deer herd. Fortunately, the Missouri legislature upheld Governor Nixon’s recent veto of SB 506 and HB 1326. These bills would have essentially reclassified captive deer as livestock, like cattle, by turning regulation of captive deer ranching over to the state’s Department of Agriculture, rather than the Department of Conservation’s expert wildlife scientists.

In vetoing SB 506 and HB 1326, Governor Nixon proclaimed that the reclassification of “wildlife” to “livestock” would violate the Missouri Constitution. He is absolutely right. Missouri’s deer are not a cash crop to be exploited for the private gain of special interests. It’s bad for the health of wild deer, bad for the economy, and undermines decades of wildlife policy. And now the legislature has upheld his veto.

It has long been a doctrine in Missouri and across our nation that wildlife is a public resource, one which is held in trust by government. Generations of Missouri conservation leaders have upheld this sacred trust and in doing so preserved Missouri’s diverse and abundant wildlife. Rather than abandoning decades of precedent protecting public resources and fair chase polices, the legislature has upheld the public trust doctrine and this vote should send a clear signal to other states that our public wildlife is not for sale.

NWF’s affiliate, Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM), led the tireless charge against the private interests and NWF thanks CFM for your courageous efforts to protect wildlife for our children’s future.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2014/09/missouris-deer-remain-wildlife/feed/12Not a Bird! Unexpected Bird Bath Visitorshttp://blog.nwf.org/2014/06/not-a-bird-unexpected-bird-bath-visitors/
http://blog.nwf.org/2014/06/not-a-bird-unexpected-bird-bath-visitors/#commentsTue, 10 Jun 2014 15:18:36 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=87832Providing water for wildlife on your property is one of the required steps to having a Certified Wildlife Habitat and many fulfill the requirement by having a bird bath. While providing water this way can help wildlife, it is important to remember that it can also be highly amusing! Here are some amazing donated photos through our National Wildlife Photo Contest that show a breadth of visitors to an otherwise common bird bath!

Opportunistic Raccoons

Some Savvy Squirrels

Some Parched Bears

Drinking Deer

Fawn taking a drink from a backyard birdbath. By National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Larry Beckman.

And a Variety of Other Wildlife Visitors

Have you had any amazing visitors to your backyard bird bath or feeder? We’d love to know!

Help wildlife with your garden

Become a Wildlife Gardener with National Wildlife Federation. It’s free and you’ll get great wildlife gardening tips and learn how to certify your garden as an official habitat.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2014/06/not-a-bird-unexpected-bird-bath-visitors/feed/20Chronic Wasting Disease a Threat to Missouri Deerhttp://blog.nwf.org/2014/04/chronic-wasting-disease-a-serious-threat-to-missouri/
http://blog.nwf.org/2014/04/chronic-wasting-disease-a-serious-threat-to-missouri/#commentsMon, 21 Apr 2014 15:46:06 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=94753An infectious epidemic known as chronic wasting disease is threatening the lives of deer in the United States.

The incurable disease was first discovered in captive deer at a research lab in Colorado. It has since spread to free-roaming and captive deer in 21 states, including Missouri. Right now, Missouri state legislators are considering bills that could facilitate the spread of this incurable disease.

100% Fatal for Deer

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a deadly disease that affects members of the deer family known as cervids, which includes white-tailed deer, mule deer, moose and elk. CWD causes brain deterioration that leads to extreme weight loss and eventual death. It can also affect behavior and cause tremors. Unfortunately, symptoms may not appear for months to years, allowing infected deer to easily spread the disease while appearing healthy. Once the symptoms do appear, they typically die within a couple months. Sadly, there is no treatment to prevent or cure the disease.

The highly infectious chronic wasting disease is believed to spread from deer to deer or transmitted to deer via infected soils. It was first discovered in captive deer at a research lab in Colorado in 1967 and a Wyoming research facility a decade later. The transport of captive deer among private facilities such as big-game hunting facilities or research labs are thought to be one of several methods for the spread of this dangerous disease. Unfortunately, wild deer can easily come into contact with captive deer. The disease was soon discovered in wild populations in the early 1980s.

CWD can now be found in captive and/or wild deer in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. It also has been identified in two Canadian provinces. Southeastern states are cautiously watching.

Common-sense regulations and strict containment guidelines are the key to preventing the spread of the disease. The National Wildlife Federation and its affiliates are urging individual states and the United States Department of Agriculture to enact laws or rules prohibiting the importation and exportation of live cervids, cervid carcasses or unboned cervid meat. Unfortunately, state legislators in Missouri are considering bills that will disregard the welfare of deer for the benefit of special interests.

Dangerous Precedent in Missouri

White-tailed deer, one of Missouri’s most iconic native wildlife, are a familiar sight in the meadows and forests of Missouri. Sadly, the infectious epidemic is now threatening the lives of deer in this state. In 2010, captive deer at big-game hunting facilities in two Missouri counties were the first diagnosed with the fatal disease. Since then, wild deer near these facilities have also been diagnosed with the disease. The Missouri Department of Conservation is responsible for managing captive and free-roaming deer to prevent the disease from spreading outside the known areas. However, reckless state bills could undo this work.

White-tailed deer. Photo: United States Fish & Wildlife Service

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began testing for chronic wasting disease in 2001–testing nearly 41,000 wild white-tailed deer. The agency has increased their efforts since the discovery of the disease in captive deer in 2010. They are working with private landowners such as the big-game facilities and other citizens to prevent the disease from spreading outside the CWD Containment Zone. They also have advocated that facilities with captive deer take a stronger role in containment by recommending mandatory testing, improving fence standards to prevent further spread to wild deer and prohibiting importation of live deer. Check out their booklet, “Setting the Record Straight.”

Right now, special interests in Missouri are heavily pressuring for bills that would undermine the Missouri Department of Conservation’s efforts—and possibly facilitate the spread of the disease. Missouri Senate Bill 964 and House of Representatives Bill 2031 would jeopardize all deer in Missouri by taking oversight of captive deer away from the Department of Conservation and reclassifying them as “livestock” under the oversight of the Department of Agriculture. Both the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Department of Conservation agree that the reclassification of captive deer is a bad idea.

The reclassification would also have dangerous implications for general wildlife management, “The Missouri Department of Conservation is responsible for the management of Missouri’s wildlife resources. This includes both captive and free ranging wildlife,” commented the spokesperson. “The Department believes it is a dangerous precedent to start defining captive wildlife species (ie, black bear, quail, coyote, white-tailed deer, bobcat, etc.) as livestock because of the side of the fence the animal stands on and because of a special interest group.”

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2014/04/chronic-wasting-disease-a-serious-threat-to-missouri/feed/1These Animals Don’t Care That It’s Freezing Outsidehttp://blog.nwf.org/2013/12/these-animals-dont-care-that-its-freezing-outside/
http://blog.nwf.org/2013/12/these-animals-dont-care-that-its-freezing-outside/#commentsSat, 14 Dec 2013 14:45:26 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=89034I was the first one to bust out my puffy jacket, gloves and hat to stay warm. I don’t like coffee, but I offer to hold other people’s drinks to warm my hands. I nuzzle my nose in my scarf. Similarly, the animals below have creative strategies to cope with the cold weather and are seemingly unaffected by the snow and ice. Bundle up & enjoy!

Great Gray Owl

Impeccable hearing to locate prey, feathered snow pants to stay warm, and talons to break through ice are just a few characteristics that help great gray owls hunt effectively in the snow. Just watch this great gray owl in action. Snow doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Grizzly Bear

Grizzly bears hibernate during the winter months, but they don’t miss out on all the snow. Grizzlies can be quite active as they forage and prepare for winter. They can sense when it’s time to enter their winter den based on the cold temperatures or snow conditions.

Moose

Insulating fur allows moose to survive very cold conditions. Although their long legs can navigate through snow depths of up to 36 inches, they prefer to hang out in the forest where there is greater cover.

Bison

These gigantic creatures have superb insulation. Bison have “thick skin and underfur, long guard hairs, and layers of fat,” according to Yellowstone National Park. Try to look at one and not feel cozy.

Mallard

I have poor circulation, which means my feet are always freezing. I see mallards swimming and waddling around in snow and can’t help but wonder how their feet aren’t icicles. The answer lies within their unique heat-exchange system, called counter-current circulation. Arteries carrying warm blood from the heart are interwoven with veins carrying cold blood from the feet. The netlike pattern allows blood flowing to the body to be warmed, and blood flowing to the feet to be cooled.

Deer

These two deer are oblivious to the fact that it is frigid. Probably because their winter coat keeps them warm, even when it’s -30 degrees Fahrenheit outside! Each hair on a deer’s winter coat is hollow, trapping air that helps them retain heat. Quilts, window panes and house insulation all utilize air pockets in similar ways.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2012/07/photo-of-the-day-deer-xing/feed/1The Fascinating Things About Creatures That Swimhttp://blog.nwf.org/2011/03/the-fascinating-things-about-creatures-that-swim/
http://blog.nwf.org/2011/03/the-fascinating-things-about-creatures-that-swim/#commentsWed, 16 Mar 2011 00:57:20 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/?p=16467With the 2011 National Wildlife Week theme of “animals that move us,” we have dedicated Wednesday to take a closer look at swimming. Wildlife species of all kinds swim, and many have their own unique styles, speeds and approaches. Among the most numerous swimmers are fish. There are about, 20,000 known species in the world and, as the depths of the oceans are explored new species turn up nearly every day. Here are some curious facts about creatures and their swimming.

The Fastest Swimmers

The sailfish is considered the fastest swimmer among fish, often reaching 70 mph. Although a black marlin was recently clocked at 80 mph so the sailfish record may fall to its cousin.

The fastest swimming mammal is the orca (often called killer whale) which can swim over 55 mph but the Dall’s porpoise of the north Pacific has been clocked at the same speed.

People are also often amazed to learn that whales once lived on land and liked swimming so much that they went back to living in the sea. These sea-going mammals can dive down to some of the deepest parts of the ocean. The sperm whale routinely dives to depths of 10,000 feet (about two miles) to hunt for giant squid.

Slowest Swimmer

Largest Swimmers:

The whale shark is the largest fish in the sea. One was measured at 41 feet in length and weighed over 35 tons. This (Watch this video of divers swimming near a whale shark.) However, the blue whale (a mammal) is the largest living creature. Adult blue whales can reach 100 feet in length and 200 tons in weight.

The largest giant squid ever recorded was captured in the North Atlantic in 1878. It weighed 4 tons and its tentacles measured 10 m (35 ft) long.

The heaviest crustacean ever found swimming along the bottom was a lobster weighing 42 lbs, caught in 1934.

Secret Swimmers

Some animals have reputations for not being able to swim or being afraid of the water. Take cats, for example. The truth is cats can swim. Some cats, such as the jaguar of South and Central America are excellent swimmers. Tigers are good swimmers too as it turns out.

With primates, most indications are that gorillas do not swim but that chimpanzees are swimmers, if reluctantly.

Other animals that are identified as not being able to swim range from camels to armadillos (although the long-nosed armadillo of South America is an armadillo species that can swim).

Unconventional Swimmers

Some fish swim vertically. The sea horse is one example but there are many others in the fish world including the razor fish or shrimp fish, that swim a vertical position.

Many fish can swim backwards. Eels are best known for this.

Anadromous species, such as salmon and shad, live in the ocean and travel up rivers to spawn. These fish know to return to the same place from which they hatched.

Just Plain Different

Once in a while, something unexpected will happen. Forget about the Loch Ness monster. One time, in 2007, a deer was sighted miles from the shore in the Chesapeake Bay. The fisherman who saw the deer took her on board his boat and released her safely on shore.

A baby pudu was recently born at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Pudus are the smallest deer species in existence and are native to tropical forests of South America. Our friends at the zoo were kind of enough to post a video of the little guy to YouTube, which is sure to elicit a great big “AWWWWWWWWW!” from anyone who watches it.

(I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that two species of pudu are listed as a Vulnerable due to loss of their habitat for farming and cattle ranching, as well as unsustainable hunting and competition with exotic species introduced by people. National Wildlife Federation is working to stop that kind of habitat loss, and you can find out more about that work here.)

Enjoy the video below and the warm fuzzies you’ll surely feel from watching it, and be sure to check out National Wildlife Federation’s very own Wild Animal Baby for the kids in your life.

The Pilgrims’ first thanksgiving celebration (which lasted three days) probably took place in mid October 1621, after an unexpectedly bountiful harvest. The newcomers invited local Indians—who had given them a lot of useful advice on farming—to join them. According to various sources, the Pilgrims enjoyed a wide range of wild animal foods collected from forest, meadow and sea. Those species continued as staple foods in America for at least another 250 years. But how do the creatures on which the Pilgrims dined fare today?

A wild turkey almost glows with bronze iridescence in this photo by Sonya L. Shaw.

Let’s take a look at eight types of wild creatures the Pilgrims ate:

Turkey

A large bird of woods and plain, the turkey was common across much of the area we know today as the United States. The Pilgrims and their Indian allies probably had access to roosts where dozens, even scores, of turkeys bunched up at night. Easy prey for arrow or bullet. Too easy, because within the next 300 years the turkey was nearly wiped out across much of the United States. Massive efforts were undertaken in the 1930s and onward to restore wild turkey populations, which today are common in most states and legal to hunt in season.

Heath Hen

This grouse was so common in the Plymouth area that the birds in later years became a staple diet for servants, being easy to get and cheap. Given that the birds flocked in open areas—scrubby heath barrens—they almost certainly were the species sometimes called partridges in accounts of the Pilgrim celebration. Heavily hunted throughout the colonial period and in the 19th century, and subject to habitat loss, the bird was extinct on the mainland by no later than 1870. The last of them disappeared on Martha’s Vineyard in 1932.

Waterfowl

Ducks, geese and swans were all on the Pilgrims’ table. The birds suffered greatly during the uncontrolled market-hunting years of the 1800s. One species, the Labrador duck, became extinct in the mid 1870s, probably because of egg collecting (it wasn’t favored for its unpalatable meat) and loss of the clam beds in which it found winter food. Drought in the early 1900s hurt waterfowl across the nation. But conservationists in the 1930s set to work helping the birds recover, often with the leadership of J.N. “Ding” Darling, the founder of the National Wildlife Federation. Today, waterfowl populations are carefully managed and hunting is controlled. Waterfowl numbers still have ups and downs, but they are unlikely to join the heath hen in oblivion.

Bald Eagle

Yes, the Pilgrims apparently served eagle during the celebration. In the mid 1900s, the use of pesticides nearly put the bald eagle and many of its relatives, from peregrines to condors, out of business. In the Lower 48 States, fewer than 500 bald eagle pairs survived in 1960. Now, almost 10,000 pairs live in the Lower 48, thanks to regulation of DDT and other pesticides, as well as a ban that NWF helped initiate on lead shot, which poisoned the birds when they scavenged waterfowl shot and lost by hunters.

Lobsters

Lobster populations as a rule remain safe, and the animals are still common on American dinner plates. These crustaceans are carefully managed by both state and federal agencies, and restrictions are based on increasingly refined data.

Atlantic Cod

Caught off New England, the fish that was so common and commercially important that it gave its name to a Massachusetts cape has not done so well. In the 1990s, the catch of cod was sinking fast because of overharvest by the fishing industry. Today, federal regulations are helping to restore the battered cod populations, though numbers are still down. However, catch data suggest that improvements are on the way, though the species still suffers the effects of overfishing.

Eel

These slippery, slender fish were once common in New England rivers, where they matured before returning to the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic, a warm-water area where eels breed and hatch. Overfishing and damming of streams has greatly reduced eel populations in the Northeast. In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service turned down a petition to protect eels under the Endangered Species Act.

White-Tailed Deer

Venison was also on the 1621 menu. In the 1800s, deer in many states were nearly wiped out by uncontrolled hunting for meat and hides and by loss of habitat as forests were cut. But in the 1900s, wildlife managers began developing more scientific methods for monitoring and managing deer, which began to rebound as forests grew back. Today, deer may be as populous as they were in 1621.

Bonus Species

It’s not a meat species, being a tree, but let’s look at one last item on the Pilgrims’ plates—chestnuts. When the first colonists arrived in North America, the American chestnut tree ranged across New England and much of the region east of the Mississippi, with the exception of most of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and the southeastern coastal states.

About 25 percent of all trees in the Appalachia Mountains were American Chestnuts, which grew up to 150 feet tall. They provided food for myriad animals as well as for humans. In 1904, chestnut trees in what is now the Bronx Zoo began dying. The cause: a bark fungus inadvertently bought into the United States on Asian chestnut trees.

The Asian trees could withstand the fungus, but the American trees could not. Perhaps 3 billion American chestnut trees died as a result. Today, probably fewer than 100 large chestnut trees survive in the species’ original range. Trees still sprout from old root systems, but these trees rarely grow more than 20 feet tall before the bark fungus kills them. Efforts are under way to recover the species and return it to its former range.

Do you want to help conserve wildlife and wild places? NWF has just launched a new online feature called “Choose Your Cause.” Just click on the cause you care about most and enjoy inspiring stories and photos from folks on-the-ground who are working tirelessly to protect the wildlife and wild places we all love.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2010/11/eight-wild-animal-species-the-pilgrims-ate%e2%80%94and-how-they-are-today/feed/7New Tourist More Than DC Can Bear?http://blog.nwf.org/2010/06/new-tourist-more-than-dc-can-bear/
http://blog.nwf.org/2010/06/new-tourist-more-than-dc-can-bear/#commentsMon, 07 Jun 2010 00:45:12 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/2010/06/new-tourist-more-than-dc-can-bear/Here in the Washington, DC area, we’re used to a summer tourist invasion. But this may be a bit much — a bear spotted less than two miles northwest of the National Zoo:

A bear was caught on security camera at an apartment building in the 4800 block of Connecticut Avenue NW at about 6:45 a.m. Friday. The bear and two deer were eating.

The building manager said wildlife is common in the area — but not bears.

The animals were only in the courtyard for a few minutes before leaving.

As they adapt to human activity, wildlife have slowly been extending their range in the Washington, DC area. Until now, the most notable newcomer had been the coyote. Watch the security video showing the bear & the deer: